>This is absolutely not true. There are plenty of places with standing armies (i.e. pretty much all eligible males have guns in their homes) and don't have anything remotely like the gun murder rate of the US.
You're confusing standing armies and militias/reserves. A standing army is a group of people who are in the army as an occupation.
You are right that the prevalence of gun ownership isn't the whole story. Certainly part of it is cultural. But for now, in this time and in the current state of the US, these incidents really are the price we pay for freedom.
> A standing army is a group of people who are in the army as an occupation.
It's not the occupation. They're normal citizens that periodically do military training and are expected to be ready at all times should an attack happen. That means having weapons and ammo at home.
You're confusing standing armies and militias/reserves. A standing army is a group of people who are in the army as an occupation.
You are right that the prevalence of gun ownership isn't the whole story. Certainly part of it is cultural. But for now, in this time and in the current state of the US, these incidents really are the price we pay for freedom.